10 years after the attack in Copenhagen, PET sees a new type of terror: 'They don't know what they are doing'

Criminality on demand - also known as "crime as a service" - poses not only challenges for regular police, but also complicates the threat picture for PET, says the operational chief of the intelligence service, Flemming Drejer.

Many of the cases originate from the criminal underworld, but there are also examples of politically motivated crime.

In a case involving two hand grenade attacks near the Israeli embassy in Hellerup, terror charges have been raised (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/sigtelse-granatkast-mod-israels-ambassade-var-terror). A suspected arson attack in an apartment where a Jewish woman was lying and sleeping (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/politiet-sigter-21-aarig-mand-terror) is also being investigated as terror.

Common to the cases is that the police believe that there is talk of commissioned work, and that the operational perpetrators may not necessarily know why they are sent to the city to do what they do.

This makes the picture more murky for the police and intelligence services, says Flemming Drejer here on the 10th anniversary of the terror attack at Krudttønden and the synagogue.

- We have been looking for the ideologically driven perpetrators who have been radicalized. Now we have to look further back to find the motivation. For those who are out to carry out the act, they don't know what they are doing.

- The complexity of the threat picture has become significantly higher. Now we have to investigate further back and see who can have driven them, who can have commissioned them. It has become a special challenge.

He adds that "crime as a service" is not new, but that the scope has grown.

Does it come as a surprise to you that it is so easy to hire someone to commit a crime?

- Yes, we have to be honest and say yes, replies Flemming Drejer.

- It is an environment with an utterly incredible cynicism that challenges both us, but also the open police in relation to gang enforcement, says Flemming Drejer. (Photo: © Morten K. Seligmann - DR, DR)

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Shoot to the right and left

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PET's statement comes, 10 years after Omar el-Hussein shot and killed Finn Nørgaard and Dan Uzan in Copenhagen. The attack was called the "worst terror attack on Danish soil." Omar el-Hussein acted alone as a so-called "lone wolf."

Even though PET still fears the lone, politically motivated perpetrator most, they also have a focus on hired criminals.

In such cases, more people are involved in one crime. One provides weapons, another takes care of clothing, a third provides getaway cars, a fourth finds an apartment, and a fifth pays.

- It is my assumption, and the cases are still under investigation, that these persons often have no idea about the target of the attack or the purpose of what they are being paid to do, says Flemming Drejer.

- Typically they are put into a taxi with an address they are supposed to go to. When they arrive, they shoot to the right and left without knowing if it is a gang-related crime, or if it has a connection to our area - which can be terror-related, explains he.

PET has previously warned against the possibility that people with ties to the criminal underworld are hired for example terror.

Flemming Drejer repeats the warning:

- They are not aware of how serious it is and may come from a slightly outdated criminal world, where shooting and shooting and so on may unfortunately have become part of the daily routine.

Flemming Drejer will not tell concretely what PET does to counter the new threat with hired criminals. He tells, however, that it requires a presence on social media.

Dan Uzan was shot dead when he stood guard at a bat mitzvah in the synagogue in Krystalgade in Copenhagen. (Photo: © Søren Bidstrup, Scanpix Denmark)

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Can run up against the wall in court

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When more people play a small but important role in an attack, it can be difficult to convict them for terror, explains Nanna Grønning-Madsen, adjunct in criminal law at Syddansk University.

A terror charge requires, among other things, that one has the intention to "scare a population or destroy a society."

- If a perpetrator has no idea who he is killing, or why he is killing that person, then he does not have the intention to commit terror, and then he cannot be sentenced under the terror provisions.

- Ergo it becomes difficult to prove what the perpetrator's intention was.

Hear Nanna Grønning-Madsen explain here:

In other cases it is easier to prove terror, for example if the target is a Jewish synagogue, says she.

- But is it a random apartment complex where a Jewish high-ranking person lives in Denmark, it will require that one can prove that the perpetrator in fact knew that the person in question was Jewish or had the position in Danish society that the perpetrator had.

But if one is hired to shoot at the royal palace or similar, one will not just always be able to defend oneself with the fact that one did not know what one was going into?

- No, one will not. In the end it is about credibility. If there are many indications that point to the fact that one has known something, then the court will likely end up saying that the accused is not credible because there are so many indications that point in the opposite direction.

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Experts: The criminals are cunning

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When the perpetrators are not sentenced for terror, they receive lighter sentences.

Lotte Helms, adjunct in criminal law, calls it a legal "difficulty."

- It makes it difficult to prove that it falls under terror provisions. It means that some of those who commit the crime may have received a different sentence, says she.

She compares it with gang crimes, where the police currently have similar cases with people from outside who are hired.

- Collectively it is a picture of the criminals adapting and finding a way to act outside.

In addition to the cases from the Israeli embassy and the Jewish woman's apartment, the police are also investigating a suspected arson attack on an NGO on Wesselsgade (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/politisk-budskab-spraymalet-ved-brand-i-ngos-bygning-paa-noerrebro-det-er-et) on Nørrebro in Copenhagen as politically motivated, where the perpetrators may have been hired from outside.

Two men with criminal ties are being held in custody, but they are not currently charged with terror.

In addition, there is a long list of cases with ties to the criminal underworld, where young Swedes have been hired for the task. The latest case fell on February 7, where a 16-year-old Swedish boy received 5.5 years in prison for attempted murder (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/ung-dreng-dreng-faar-55-aars-faengsel-drabsplaner-mod-danske-rockere) against a rocker gathering in Brøndby.

Alone from April 2024 to January 2025, 37 cases (https://www.ft.dk/samling/20241/almdel/reu/spm/461/svar/2110764/2975670.pdf) of contract killings and commissioned attacks have landed on the investigators' desks.

Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard underscores in a written response that authorities are taking the development seriously and among other things have strengthened the police's ability (https://www.justitsministeriet.dk/pressemeddelelse/rygstoed-til-politiet-regeringen-styrker-blandt-andet-kampen-mod-bandekriminalitet-med-80-millioner-kroner-aarligt/) to investigate and prosecute the masterminds and not just the hired criminals.

- The fact that one cannot be sentenced for terror is not the same as one cannot receive a harsh sentence for one's crime. There may also be masterminds who can be sentenced for terror, writes the justice minister.

- There is currently no plan to change the terror provisions, but our legislation and the tools we give to the police and other authorities must of course follow the development. It also applies in the fight against terror.

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